This essay expresses a profoundly ambivalent response to the legacy of Dartmouth, particularly Dixon's "Growth" Model of English. English educators owe a debt to Dixon in terms of innovative pedagogical methods that are part of the daily shapes of tertiary and high school English classes, including the way drama and performance invoke…

The space between the two epigraphs presented at the beginning of this article marks the difference between an insider and an outsider. Ms Barbieri, from "Voices from the Middle," made the first comments as an expression of what reflective practice -- observing and critiquing video tapes of hers and others' teaching -- could mean to her…

This short response to the theme of 'Love in English' reflects on the importance of teaching queer and Indigenous literatures within English classes. I share personal perspectives on seeking literature that reflected who I was as a young person developing queer and Indigenous identities. I also share professional experiences from my past English…

By the late 70s the "growth through English" slogan, derived from John Dixon's account of the Dartmouth conference, had become popular around Australia. In 1980 the Sydney IFTE conference featured several Dartmouth veterans; but during that conference, Dartmouth-linked ideas from overseas mingled with lines of local influence, especially…

Despite an intense focus on improving Australian students' writing performance in recent years, and comprehensive instructional advice to English teachers, researchers have noted a lack of gains in standardised writing tests and negative effects on student engagement and learning. In this paper we claim that these outcomes are partly attributable…

Much of English teaching, whether it be mounting an argument on a social issue, analysing media, or developing a critical reading of a novel or film, implies an ethical stance. This article considers the relationship between ethics, belief and ideology. After looking, within a Lacanian framework, at the ways in which particular beliefs are made…

Although "VCE English Language (EL)" has been offered for twenty years in Victoria, Australia, the subject, and especially students' experience of it, has had little evaluation. Using data from four surveys conducted across seven years with over 1500 Unit 3-4 "EL" students, augmented by VCAA enrolment data, a profile of…

This paper is prompted by the author's experience as a researcher of English literary education in three different geographies over the past three years: Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Affect theory, as discussed in this paper, concerns atmospheres, surfaces, bodies, emotions, moods, vicinities and capacities. Drawing on affect theory,…

In John Dixon's account of Dartmouth, experience is seen as central to the business of English as a school subject. Experience, for Dixon, is the raw material that is worked on in the classroom. What kinds of theory inform this emphasis on experience, and what are the curricular and pedagogic implications of this version of English? How does…

The emphasis on 21st century learning practices in Australia has led to a paradox of concerns in the field of teaching. This paper examines dual deficiencies related to teaching film in the subject of English; being the lack of contextualisation and authenticity in traditional modes of film study, and the widening gulf between teachers and…

The ancient literary form of commonplace books offers rich possibilities to students and teachers of English in Australian schools in the 21st century. By briefly tracing early uses of commonplace books and examining contemporary approaches to the teaching of writing, this paper re-imagines the 15th century commonplace book as a personal learning…

In the British "zone" of the English education world, which Australia largely inhabited throughout the 20th century, the key book that came out of Dartmouth was John Dixon's "Growth through English." Some in the British "zone" may not even be aware of the equivalent American book, Herbert Muller's "The Uses of…

This essay explores how my professional experiences as an English educator have been shaped by the values and beliefs that are typically associated with the Dartmouth Seminar of 1966 as they were presented by John Dixon in his immensely influential report of that seminar, "Growth Through English." Rather than seeing "Growth"…

This paper examines the relationship between the literary theories underpinning an English syllabus and teachers' personal epistemologies and pedagogical beliefs. The study discussed here used semi-structured interviews and an online survey to investigate 50 New South Wales teachers' views of the theoretical basis of a senior English syllabus that…

The Personal Growth (PG) model, as outlined by John Dixon in 1967, is unquestionably still recognisable to English teachers, remaining aligned to their philosophy of teaching English. This article traces a key aspect of the history of Personal Growth and explores present continuities traceable to Dartmouth in 1966, in suggesting an invigorated…